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Argentina survived a big scare in the Round of 16 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, overcoming Australia 2-1 but only after being on the receiving end of a flurry of Australian chances late in the match.
After a deflected shot from Socceroos winger Craig Goodwin in the 77th minute cut the South American's lead in half, the Aussies kept threatening on the attack and came agonisingly close to an equaliser - Garang Kuol coming the closest from short-range in the 97th minute.
Messi, who opened the scoring at the end of the first half, expressed relief at the final score upon taking a step closer to him and Argentina going all the way in what is confirmed to be his final World Cup in Qatar.
"We're very happy to have achieved one of our objectives, for taking a step forward in this competition towards our final goal," he said.
"The game has been tough, very physical, though we knew it would be. It hadn't been long since we last played a match so we didn't have many days to recover."
Both teams had only a three-day turnaround from their final group matches against Denmark and Poland respectively, which was also a grievance of the Australian team in light of both England and Senegal having a five-day rest ahead of their Round of 16 meeting tomorrow (AEDT).
While the short break did not seem to bother a rampant Argentinian outfit going forward, Messi admitted that his side were challenged by a physical Socceroos, which saw the likes of Harry Souttar and Kye Rowles hold strong in defence.
"We were pretty concerned about that as they've got a very strong squad, physically speaking," he said.
"Luckily, we found the net, leading the game. Then we controlled the game until we made it 2-0, but Australia made it difficult for us with their late goal and we suffered a little.
"But this is a World Cup, and all games are this difficult. The most important thing is we won."
The win for Argentina sets up a quarter-final encounter with fellow matchday winners the Netherlands, who comfortably defeated USA 3-1 in the earlier match.
Messi thanked his nation's faithful after helping see them through to the next round.
"These are incredible feelings. It's beautiful to share these moments of pure joy with them," he said.
"We know how much effort they put in to come all this way to be at each of our games. We also feel grateful for the people of Argentina, although I know they'd like to be here. But even if that's not always possible, the togetherness we feel from a few years ago is very beautiful and this is how it should always be in our squad.
"As I said earlier, we have been playing many games in the last period, without much time to rest. We only had three days. Despite that, we were enthusiastic and eager to see our fans in the stadium and play on the pitch.
"It's fantastic how they experience every single game and how they transfer that joy, passion and energy to us. We really thank them for all their incredible support."
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